President Barack Obama passed the "Credit Card Act of 2009" this May in an effort to protect young consumers from being gouged by credit card companies.
The bill will limit the ability of college students under the age of 21 to obtain a credit card without signed parental consent.
According to Lynn Gregory, senior vice-president of marketing and member services at the Johns Hopkins Federal Credit Union (JHFCU), a large part of the legislation is dedicated to safeguarding young consumers.
Many people tend to get in to trouble with credit when they are students, racking up debt with credit cards.
The new legislation should help reduce the instances of this in the future.
"In general the legislation will help Hopkins students not get in trouble with debt early on," said Gregory. "And directly, the credit card legislation will make it harder to get credit cards in the hands of students."
The act includes new restrictions, dictating which students are eligible to apply for credit cards.
Ben Woolsey, director of marketing and consumer research at www.creditcards.com, a website in which consumers are presented with information regarding credit cards and their respective bank affiliations, explained that formerly, anyone over the age of 18 could apply for a credit card without the need for a co-signer guaranteeing repayment of debts incurred.
Now, those under the age of 21 must have a parent or guardian co-sign the agreement.
Another option does exist among individuals who are under 21 and do not wish to have a guardian co-sign the credit card agreement. They must provide proof that they have a job or adequate resources to pay their credit card dues in a timely fashion.
According to Woolsey, students under 21 will be less likely to get credit cards after Feb. 22, when the new laws go into effect.
Some Hopkins students are bothered by the new restriction, which requires even students above the age of 18 to obtain a guardian co-signer.
"I'm considered an adult, and I can't even go in and get a credit card come February without having one of my parents with me," freshman Maria Linnen said.
"I wouldn't want a credit card though. I don't like the idea of spending money I don't have," she said.
Where Linnen takes issue with the age and ability aspect of the bill, senior Kevin Rhie, who has no credit card, takes issue with the fact that it will delay students' ability to build credit.
"The biggest thing that came to my mind is the inability to build credit," Rhie said.
"After graduation, if you want to get your own loans or sign a lease, it's more difficult when you don't have the 24 months [of credit history] or something to go off of."
Freshman Marc Raymundo finds the legislation perturbing because he applied for a credit card without his parents and has been building credit.
Under the new legislation, this would not have been possible, unless he got his parents to co-sign, or prove he could pay off incurred debt.
"That really disappoints me because I actually have a credit score," Raymundo said. "I have a good credit score, in fact. I could have gotten a pretty good credit card with some pretty good interest rates. I don't like [the new legislation]."
It is not clear if the new legislation will result in less student applicants for credit cards, as the legislation has yet to go into effect.
Gregory said she does not expect the legislation to hit the JHFCU very hard, as many of the policies to be enacted are actually already practiced by them.
Furthermore, the JHFCU also does not issue credit cards.
Junior Karen Hong does not expect the legislation to affect her, nor does she expect it to have a big impact on the number of students getting credit cards.
"For me it doesn't make that much of a difference because I signed up with my parents anyway," Hong said.
"People who are underage go with their parents anyway and they talk it over with their parents, so I don't think it will be that big of an impact."
In addition to restrictions put on credit cards, the new law puts the relationship between credit card companies and some universities under scrutiny.
In such relationships, companies get exclusive rights to market to college students and alumni, according to www.creditcards.com.
Credit card companies who deal with universities often have booths set up during certain campus events offering various incentives for students to sign up for credit cards.
With the passage of the new law, such marketing will become illegal.
Congress has even urged universities to adopt specific credit card policies, like compulsory debt education classes to accompany the credit card agreement.
Hopkins, however, already has policies set up that prohibit credit card companies from marketing to students on campus, according to the Hopkins policies.
